The synthesis of well defined polymer-protein/peptide hybrids is a rich and newly emerging field of research. These hybrid materials have potential applications in medical, biopharmaceutical and other life science areas [1-5]. Until very recently, the synthesis of polymer protein hybrids has been largely restricted to conjugates in which the synthetic polymer component is either poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) or poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide). PEGylation increases the proteolytic stability, reduces the immunogenicity and enhances the plasma half life of proteins [1]. Some PEGylated proteins are approved drugs, for example, PEGASYS™ (PEGylated interferon α-2α) marketed by Roche is used to treat hepatitis C, a liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus.
The synthesis of copolymer-protein hybrid materials has been so far restricted to a few acrylate/methacrylate monomers due to; (a) the difference in solubility between monomers: for instance, the preparation of a copolymer containing a monosaccharide derived acrylate (hydrophilic) and taxol acrylate (hydrophobic) would be very challenging (b) widely different reactivity between monomers (c) the lack of reactivity of many biologically relevant molecules, for example the acrylate of the anti-cancer and Anti Alzheimer's drug candidate curcumin could be synthesized but cannot be polymerized via free radical polymerization methods because the molecule is a radical scavenger.